Friends Journal

32 Pages·2012·10.23 MB·English

FRIENDS
December 1_, 1974
JOURNAL
Quaker Thought and Life Today
Henry Joel Cadbury 1883-1974
FRIENDS
The First Word
JOURNAL
December 1, 1974
Volume 20, Number 20
Friends Journal is published the first and fifteenth of each
month (except in June, July and August, when it is published
monthly) by Friends Publishing Corporation at 152-A North
Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia 19102. Telephone: [phone].
(Temporary office address: 112 South Sixteenth Street,
Philadelphia 19102.) IN 1941 THE first of two hundred and seventy-seven "Let
Friends Journal was established in 1955 as the successor to The ters from the Past" that were to be published in the Friends
Friend (1827-1955) and Friends Intelllgencer (1844-1955).
JAMES D. LENHART, Editor Intelligencer and this magazine between then and now ap
JUDITH C. BREAULT, Managing Editor
NINA I. SULLIVAN, Advertising and Circulation peared over the signature of Now and Then. It was written
MARGUERITE L. HoRLANDER, and while the writer, who was in England for the American
LOIS F. ONEAL, Office Staff
Friends Service Committee, waited for the weather to
BOARD OF MANAGERS
1972-1975: Paul Blanshard, Jr., Charles J. Cooper (Treasurer), clear before resuming his trip. Typically, he took full ad
Barrington Dunbar, Walter Kahoe, Ada C. Rose, Patricia
McBee Sheeks, James B. Shuman, Eileen B. Waring, Gordon D. vantage of the opportunity and wrote: "How many earlier
Whitcraft.
Quaker travelers have waited for favorable weather off the
1973-1976: Laura Lou Brookman, Helen Buckler, Mary Roberts
Calhoun, Eleanor Stabler Clarke, Richard J. Crohn, Opal Downs or further westward! In the remarkable odyssey of
Gooden Francis Hortenstine, William B. Kriebel, A.
Alexana1 er Morisey, Walter H. Partymiller. that Massachusetts-bound ship, the Woodhouse, Robert
1974-1977: Carol P. Brainerd, Miriam E. Brown, James Neal Fowler describes how in 1657, while waiting off Ports
Cavener, Margaret B. Richie, Daniel D. Test, Jr. (Chairman),
Eleanor B. Webb, Elizabeth Wells. mouth or South Yarmouth, 'some of the ministers of
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Alfred Stefferud, Frances Williams Christ went on shore and gathered sticks and kindled a
Browin, Richard R. Wood.
fire and left it burning.' This quaint metaphor means that
Subscription: United States, possessions: one year $7.50, two
years $14, three years $20. Foreign countries (including Canada the early Friends used every passing opportunity to pro
and Mexico): add $1 for postage. Single copies: 40 cents;
samples sent on request. claim their message and left results to God. What a fine
Information on and assistance with advertising is available on description of our duties and opportunities today."
request. Appearance of any advertisement does not imply
endorsement by Friends Journal. Daisy Newman relates in her book, A Procession of
Second Class Postage paid at Philadelphia, P A and additional Friends, that Now and Then "could not preserve his ano
offices.
Copyright © 1974 by Friends Publishing Corporation. Reprints nymity very long, since there was only one person in all of
of any article are available at nominal cost. Permission should
be received before reprinting excerpts longer than 200 words. Quakerdom who possessed the knowledge of the Bible and
Quaker history disclosed in these 'Letters' and only one
person with that special strain of wit, never sharp, never
intended to wound, merely-and this persisted into his
Contents
eighties-youthfully mischievous. He was none other than
Henry Joel Cadbury."
SPECIAL ISSUE This past September 11 in his last note to the Journal
Henry Joel Cadbury 1883-1974 Henry wrote, "I sent some letters from the past and I've
The First Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 quite a list lined up for the future . . . I hope I can meet
A Truly Great Spirit-Elfrida Vipont Foulds . . . . . . .. . 612 the readers' interest." How typical it was of Henry to end
He Was the Message-Kenneth L. Carroll . . . . . . . . . . 613 with a humble hope and to be thinking of the future! If
Guide, Teacher, Friend-Mildred B. Young . . . . . . . . . 614 ever a person died ninety years young it was he.
His Indelible MinistrY-R. W. Tucker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
For the record, Henry was born in Philadelphia to
Who But Our Henry?-Daisy Newman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Quaker parents, Joel and Anna Kaighn (Lowry) Cadbury.
Quaker Historian-Edwin B. Bronner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
He would have been 91 if he had lived until this December
North Star-Margaret Hope Bacon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
A Darlint Man-Colin W. Bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 1. He was graduated from Haverford College in 1903, re
Love and Esteem-Alfred W. Braithwaite . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 ceived his master's from Harvard the following year, and
Dr. Samuel Johnson on the Quakers-Now and Then 622 earned his Ph.D. in 1914, also from Harvard.
Open to the Light-Emily T. Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 He was a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly
HJC: Quaker Scholar-Thomas E. Drake . . . . . . . . . . . 624 Meeting, helped found the American Friends Service Com
Friends Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 mittee in 1917 and served as its chairman from 1928-34
Reviews of Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
and from 1944-60, and as honorary chairman until his
Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
death. As chairman he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for
Classified Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
AFSC in 1947.
Meeting Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
Henry taught at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges and
Photographs--Ted Hetzel and David Perry at Harvard, where he was Hollis Professor of Divinity
610 December 1, 1974 FRIENDS JOURNAL
me on these points I feel complete respect if they are sin
cere, although I do not perceive the logical or ethical basis
of their positions."
Two more things that he both practiced and preached
were these: "The real factor in making Friends is not what
... And Left It Burning
we say or do, but what we are . . . the best way of adver
tising any ideal is to wrap it up in a person, to incarnate
it.'' And "May those who are younger not resent the disci
pline of learning and let those who are older be saved
from the foolish confidence that they are the people and
wisdom will die with them.''
Albert Einstein once wrote that "A human being is part
from 1934-54. He also taught at Pendle Hill for a number of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time
of years. and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feel
Henry wrote a number of books on the Bible and on ings as something separated from the rest-a kind of op
Quakerism, three of which were published in 1972. One tical delusion of his consciousness. . . . This delusion is a
of these, Friendly Heritage, was a collection of two hun kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desire
dred forty of his "Letters from the Past." He also was a and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task
member of the small committee of translators who pro must be to free ourselves from this prison, by widening
duced the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures
He spoke of his experiences as a Biblical scholar when and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to
members of his meeting honored him a year ago at a nine achieve this completely, but the striving for such achieve
tieth birthday celebration. As always, Henry put things in ment is in itself a part of the liberation and foundation for
their proper perspective, and with a dash of humor, in just inner security."
a few words. Henry Cadbury was as free from the prison of self and
"We talk about the way things change today, and say as whole a person as one is likely to find then . . . now . . .
we are in a period of change, but we have been all through or ever. In the remarkable odyssey through all types of
this before. . . As Eve said to Adam, 'My dear, we are weather of this Quaker traveler, he kindled fires and left
living in a time of transition.' " them burning in the lives of everyone he touched. It is with
A few months before, Henry had been a key witness in deep gratitude that Friends from England, from Massachu
AFSC's legal attempt to stop withholding from employee setts, from Philadelphia and elsewhere share in this me
wages portions of income tax that would be used for mil morial issue some of the warmth and the glow and the light
itary purposes. On the stand in Federal court in Philadel that is Henry Joel Cadbury.
phia, he testified about the meaning of the Quaker concept JDL
of bearing witness.
"Bearing witness means primarily I suppose a vocal ex
pression of your belief in certain ideals, but beyond that
in the consistent expression in your actions of those ideals."
"Could you say," he was asked, "that in a nutshell it
means practicing what you preach?"
"Yes," he answered, "or only preaching what you prac
tice."
He himself was a living testament to Quaker witness
bearing. In 1917, almost sixty years earlier, he had written
a letter to the Philadelphia Ledger protesting the hatred of
Germans by Americans. The letter created a storm of in
dignation not only from the general public, but also from
members of the Board of Managers at Haverford College,
where Henry was teaching, and led to his resignation. A
year later this is how Henry described his own reactions:
"I may say that it was a personal experience of unusual in
"The heart of all history is the little community of
terest to be threatened at one time with the loss of my
position and income, with imprisonment as seditious, with those who thotfully consider and eagerly practice wis
lynchiifg and the destruction of my house. The latter dom and love. Henry Cadbury brot that choice com
threats were not fulfilled, and I can view the incident as munity into new warmth and Light. That Light shines
typical of much that occurred during the war. I am not in
in the dark, and the dark can never put it out. With
clined to change my position that wars, including the late
renewed strength, the community lives."
war, are both futile for securing their ideal ends and im
moral as debasing human life. For those who disagree with MosEs BAILEY
FRIENDS JOURNAL December 1, 1974 611
A Truly Great Spirit
THERE CAN BE FEW Friends of international reputation scholar, both to the understanding of the Bible and to the
who have left behind them, in so many individuals, such advancement of Quaker historical knowledge. Perhaps this
a sense of personal loss. Henry Cadbury was a great schol opportunity should be taken to pay tribute to his heart
ar, who carried his learning with grace and shared it with warming appreciation of even the smallest pearl dredged
humility; a great Quaker, who lived his Quakerism in his up by somebody else from some unexpected source. We
daily life; and a great man, who bore the hallmark of the who owed him so much for those rich finds of his, from
truly great, that meekness which belongs to those whom his studies of the writings of George Fox and, latterly, of
Jesus called "blessed." John Woolman's travels in England, to the glowing seren
Long before I had the privilege of knowing Henry Cad dipity of his "Now and Then" papers, could often be taken
bury personally, I respected and admired his scholarship. aback by his expressions of gratitude for the sharing of
When I first heard him speak at Friends House, London, I some insignificant trifle of our own.
felt a profound veneration which was only lightened by my Knowing of my close association with the Friends His
keen enjoyment of his dry humour. For many years I re torical Society of London Yearly Meeting, he would ques
garded him as one of the outstanding Friends of his gen tion me eagerly, when we met, about recent presidential
eration, but I still did not recognize the "blessed" hall addresses or publications. As I recall the eager note in his
mark. This recognition came when I encountered him in the voice when asking: "Is there something new in it?" I am
United States; when he astonished me by attending my reminded of the great composer Haydn in his old age say
course of lectures at Pendle Hill, in fair weather or foul, ing: "There is always more to learn!" I am also reminded
as if I might have something to offer, when I knew that I of Rende! Harris's prayer: "Give us this day our daily dis
had so much to learn from him; when I heard him lecture covery." When thanking God for every remembrance of
to a group of women on (for him) a completely new sub Henry Cadb ury, we thanked Him for one who never ceased
ject, which he treated with immense erudition on the one to learn and whose daily discoveries have enriched our
hand and with a most touching modesty on the other; and lives.
perhaps most of all when I realized how vulnerable his ELFRIDA VIPONT FOULDS
tender spirit was, and how even if wounded himself, his
constant preoccupation was never .to inflict the slightest
wound upon the bruised feelings of others. Only a truly Elfrida Vipont Foulds, who shared many interests with Henry
Cadbury as a writer, scholar and observer of the Quaker scene
great spirit could show such intense caring.
past and present, serves as clerk of London Yearly Meeting's Meet
Others will write of his tremendous contribution as a ing for Sufferings.
Photograph by Ted Hetzel
The jour Cadbury brothers at Back Log Camp, Adirondacks,
New York in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Left to right: Ben,
John, Will, and Henry.
612 December 1, 1974 FRIENDS JOURNAL
He V\Tas the Message
AS I LOOK back over my own life and religious pilgrimage, friend and Friend? I think of his words of advice and en
I think of six people, above all others, whose lives and couragement, his free and eager sharing of his tremendous
thoughts have influenced me deeply. Three were of the knowledge, his concern for Quakerism and for his fellow
past: Jesus of Nazareth, St. Francis, and John Woolman. man. I also remember such acts of kindness as his driving
Three have been in my own time: Gandhi, Schweitzer, and over icy streets (at the age of 86) to visit me in Lankenau
Henry J. Cadbury. The lives and spirits of the first five I Hospital and writing forewords for several of my works.
came to appreciate through the written word, while only And I always think of his incredible memory. One time, at
Henry Cadbury was known to me in the flesh. a New Testament Society Conference at Oxford, we were
Actually, I knew of Henry Cadbury long before I be discussing the great amount of money the United States
came a Quaker, for my work in the field of New Testa was spending on the space program, and I said in a joking
ment studies early made me aware of his enormous con way that it was ridiculous to spend so many billions of dol
tribution in this field. I first met him accidentally, while lars on this project when Friends had sent someone to
walking near the Barn at Pendle Hill in the summer of Venus three centuries earlier for only a few pounds. He
1952. That very day he bad received for evaluation a man looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes and said "You must
uscript that I had submitted to the Journal of Biblical Lit have discovered that in the Swarthmore Cash Accounts"
erature. After reading the article that afternoon, he invited (at Friends House Library), knowing that was how the
me to have dinner that evening with Lydia Cadbury and early Quaker records spelled Venice!
himself so that we might discuss my paper. Thus began The Sunday morning before his death, I spoke in the
our friendship that continued to grow over the next twenty- Dallas Meeting about Henry Cadbury's life and how it bad
two years. · helped me understand a statement that I bad heard a week
Part of what brought us together over the years was our before: "To give the message, one must be the message."
double interest in New Testament studies and Quaker his I know of no one who has exemplified the truth of this
tory. I never knew just when I might receive one of his statement more than Henry J. Cadbury. Today, as I write
postcards or letters with a query "Have you run across this brief recollection, I also think of another quotation:
this?" or "Do you know about that?," as he often thought What Henry Cadbury was and did "dies not with the body
of things connected with what I was working on in one or but lives on in the hearts and minds of those who knew him
the other of these two fields. and who loved him."
Even more meaningful than the correspondence were the KENNETH L. CARROLL
visits we had. Sometimes we might both be working at
Friends House Library in London. Or we might be at the
International New Testament Society Conference at Ox
ford. There was always time for tea or lunch-and for the
advice and information I needed. One of the most reward
ing aspects of my year spent working in the Quaker Col Kenneth Carroll, professor of religion at Southern Methodist Uni
lection at Haverford College ( 1969-1970) was the regular versity, loves teaching, historical research, travel and many other
activities that also were an integral part of the life and work of
visit (once or twice a week) that Henry made by my
Henry Cadbury. He is a member of the Dallas Meeting of Friends
carrel. His insatiable curiosity about .things Quaker would
in Texas.
lead him to ask, "What have you discovered today?"
Sometimes, when I had uncovered something particularly
significant, I could hardly wait to see him- knowing the
excitement that would come into his eyes and voice as we
shared our thoughts on the subject.
After my 1970 return to Texas, one of the things that
always gave me a lift was the anticipation of trips east in
May and December of each year, when one of my first acts
was always to go up from my home in Maryland to Haver
ford in order to see Henry Cadbury. And, to my surprise,
he always seemed to enjoy these occasions as much· as I
did. Last January, we had a tremendous time together
even though he had lost his hearing and all my questions
and answers had to be written out. When I returned again
in May, Henry's hearing had been partially recovered, so
that we were able to talk to our hearts' content. And once
In /893 at the age of 10 Henry Cadbury stood between his father,
more, as on so many earlier occasions, I received useful
Joel, and his mother, Anna, for this family photograph. His
suggestions about how to approach a historical puzzle.
brothers and sisters (from left to right) were William Warder, Eliz
What things really stand out in my memory about this abeth (Mrs. Rufus Jones), Benjamin, John Warder Jr. and Emma.
FRIENDS JOURNAL December 1, 1974 613
Guide, Teacher, Friend
OTHERS WILL WRITE of Henry Cadbury as a distinguished I had a class reading Dante with me. In his introductory
New Testament scholar, as one of the best of our Quaker lecture on general apocalyptic literature he included the
historians, and as a leader in the work of Friends during Divine Comedy, thus giving my class a background it
the last sixty years of tortured world history. But I shall would not have had without his discussion.
write of him as the kindest friend and dearest mentor that When he lectured on Saint Paul or the Gospels, students
any amateur scholar ever had. Many others are with me sometimes complained that they "couldn't tell what Henry
in that category, and many professionals as well, because Cadbury believes" nor could he be trapped with questions
he was indefatigable in the nurture of minds. With the scant about his beliefs. My answer was that we did not need to
formal education I have had, it has not been my lot to sit know what he believed when we could watch how he lived.
at the feet of many great scholars, except through their This was especially true when he and Lydia were with us
books, but I can boast that I have sat at the feet of one of in everyday situations and in the daily meeting for worship.
the greatest, who also was one of the best persons. Henry always allowed time after each lecture for ques
Sheer luck (if there is any such thing) seemed to bring tions, and he took pains, in spite of his deafness, to under
the opportunity for a close friendship between the Cad stand ·the intent of each question. He had infinite patience
burys and us during the last nearly twenty years, after all with honest inquiry, even inquiries that arose from inatten
of us had reached our "third age." From our long stay in tiveness, but that rapier wit could flash out at questioners
the South, Wilmer and I came directly to Pendle Hill in who either were quibbling or showing off.
1955 when the Cadburys were in residence, after they left At the last lecture of one spring term he suddenly left
Cambridge. At the end of our first year there, Henry and his announced topic and talked from his heart about what
Lydia moved to Haverford, but for the eleven more years Jesus and Paul and the Gospels meant to him personally.
that we stayed at Pendle Hill, plus a few after we left, Wilmer was in Iowa, and I was in bed with a cold. So we
Henry gave Monday night lectures two .terms out of every missed it, and it never happened again. From what people
three. Once or twice, he changed to subjects of Quaker said of it, I think it brought the same sense of awe and
illumination that one invariably receives in coming upon
that last great paragraph in Schweitzer's Quest for the His
torical Jesus (which Douglas Steere read at the memorial
meeting for Henry).
It is often said that there are no friendships to equal the
friendships of youth, when all is fresh, all subjects and re
lationships still to be explored. Yet there is a joy in friend
ships of old age that is heightened by the knowledge that
each time we see our friend may easily be the last. This
is true in youth too, l;mt then we never believe it. For a
long time, we had not parted with Henry without such a
thought in our minds.
The day Lydia called to tell us he was gone, I was on
my way-as I often am-through the three realms with
Dante, and just that afternoon I came to the point at the
summit of Mt. Purgatory, where Virgil's mission as guide,
teacher, and friend to Dante is finished. Dante had been
warned; he knew that Virgil could go with him only so
far. Yet it is the most poignant passage in the whole drama
until one comes near the end of the Paradiso. Dante turns
eagerly to Virgil to say something to him, and finds him
history, but most of the courses were on the New Testa gone. "But Virgil had left us bereaved of himself, Virgil,
ment. I never willingly missed a lecture. In the later years sweetest father ..."
Henry used to urge me not to come; he said I had heard it MILDRED B. YOUNG
all so often. But I had two reasons: the first and less co
gent was that with a large audience coming in to hear him,
we needed a few Pendle Hill staff persons on hand. The
more decisive reason was that, as with Shakespeare's Cleo
patra, age could not wither Henry nor custom stale his in
finite variety. Mildred Binns Young, a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting
of Friends, and her husband, Wilmer, were close friends and asso
Henry took a care that was not common to Pendle Hill
ciates of Henry Cadbury for 20 years at Pendle Hill, Westtown
lecturers to relate his lectures, where feasible, to other
School and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. They remain close
courses. He was lecturing on Revelation the first term that friends with Henry's wife, Lydia.
614 December 1, 1974 FRIENDS JOURNAL
"He comes to us as One unknown without a name, as
of old, by the lake-side, he came to those men who
knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Fol
low thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has
to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those
w11o obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He
will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the suf
ferings which they shall pass through in His fellow
ship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in
their own experience Who He is." Albert Schweitzer's
final paragraph in Quest for the Historical Jesus and
read by Douglas Steere at Henry's memorial service.
His Indelible Ministry
1 FIRST HEARD Henry J. Cadbury speak in Meeting for Wor a Henry Cadbury.
ship in Cambridge (MA) Meeting in Ninth Month, 1949. HJC's ministry of course was not usually agitational.
Twenty-five years later almost to the day, he would at Yet the contrast between early zeal and modem compla
tend Arch Street Meeting, Philadelphia, for the last time; cency was an omnipresent theme for him, in casual con
and I would happen to speak; and later we would discuss versation as much as in Meeting for Worship. Once after
an idea for a "Now and Then" column for Friends Jour some very admiring things had been said by others about
nal and he would tell me, "I don't think I'll get to it; thee early Friends, he told me about the time in the early
write it." But that's another story. In Ninth Month 1949 I 1930's when a woman with "a breathy society voice" called
was a brand-new freshman at Harvard. And I'd heard his him on the telephone:
name, but I didn't know him; when he rose in Cambridge "Dr. Cadbury? I'm calling on behalf of the committee to
Meeting, it was an anonymous stranger speaking, so far as celebrate· the tercentenary of the Boston Common, and
I knew. But, speaking on "now" and "-then": we're going to have a pageant, and we're going to re-enact
"Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you," he everything that ever happened on Boston Common, and
began. we'd like you to represent the Quakers!"
And I remember two other things he said: "What did thee say?" I asked.
"The trouble with the Society of Friends is that too "I said, 'Er, everything?' and I thought for an instant
many birthright Friends have never become convinced." about going very quickly to Rhode Island."
And: "If we were true to our inheritance, we would oc One thing to admire the Boston Martyrs; another to be
cupy the place in public despise that is now held by the presented with a chance to emulate them; this we do not
Jehovah's Witnesses." really want, do we?
I felt shaken clear out of my skull. I'd never heard such Do not blame Henry Cadbury for me. His theology was
things said before, in or out of Meeting for Worship. somewhat different from mine. Likewise, the things he felt
This wasn't because I'd led a sheltered childhood. I had an agitational ministry is necessary for.
been exposed to a number of Meetings already, and to the Nevertheless, in Ninth Month, 1949, Henry Cadbury
literature of Quakerism. And to three major ministering said things that remain indelibly printed on my mind to
Friends somewhat intensively: Bacon Evans, who filled me this day. And abruptly altered my understanding of the
with delight; Rufus Jones, who bored me; Bernard Walton, Quaker ministry. And of what the Society of Friends is,
the dearest man I've ever known. But I'd never heard and what it is for. And of what I could be for.
Friends sharply criticized for enjoying middle-class suc And altered the course of my life.
cess, for complacency, for coasting on the faithfulness of R. W. TuCKER
previous generations. I think it wasn't done very often in
those days, and if all this sounds unexciting today, that's
because Henry Cadbury and others have been reiterating it
for some time now. In 1949, to me, it was wildly exciting
and shocking. R. W. Tucker, a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of
Friends and onetime student at Harvard while Henry Cadbury was
More basically, the very idea of an agitational ministry
teaching there, shared some of these reminiscences during a me
was totally new to me, and enormously startling. Nothing
morial meeting for Henry in which members of the Cadbury family
had prepared me for Henry Cadbury. Nor for the idea of and the Philadelphia Friends family participated.
FRIENDS JOURNAL December I, 1974 615
VVho But Our Henry?
AS WE GROW OLDER, most of us feel that the world is pass
ing us by. For Henry Cadbury, the reverse was true: as be
grew older, the world caught up with him.
He had often seemed in his youth to be standing alone,
seconded only by family and friends. Toward the end of
the First World War, when be was an associate professor
Photograph by David PerrY
at Haverford College, he was dismissed for criticizing those
of his countrymen, including some Quakers, who openly Daisy Newman with Henry Cadbury at the Annual
Meeting, Friends Journal Associates, March 30, 1972.
expressed hatred of the German people. In 1935, shortly
after he became Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard,
he was asked to take a loyalty oath. This he could not in
conscience do, although he knew refusal might cost him
this distinguished chair. Generations of scholars have given have said, no doubt with the mischievous smile we'll always
thanks because the authorities respected Henry Cadbury's remember, "To match the well known Book of Quaker
courageous integrity and let him continue at Harvard. To Saints I have toyed with the idea of writing a Book of
day, many people recognize, as he did so long ago, that Quaker Sinners"? Who but our Henry?
love must weary out hate and many are placing their con What pleasure he took in spotting the funny side of a
sciences above laws that are, as he described the Massa question, protecting us from pompous thinking! What imag
chusetts oath, "un-American in method and dangerous in ination he had! He could put himself in another's place, be
tendency and tyrannous in application." sensitive to others' needs. Imagination was the quality which
When he was in his twenties, Henry Cadbury joined a pieced together those fragments of history and provided so
small group of Friends from both branches- Orthodox and many missing links in our knowledge. Only a short while
Hicksite-who were trying to understand each other better. ago, this genius of a detective performed a most amazing
This was not, at the time, a popular Quaker concern. Half feat. The Friend who lives on the top floor of the Cad
a century later, rejoicing in the reunion of the once sep burys' house bad her handbag snatched as she was walking
arated Yearly Meetings, he maintained, "Indeed variety is home from the station in the evening. The thief jumped
an enriching feature of any Friends' group and is to be tol over a fence and disappeared. Reconstructing the events
erated and even encouraged. That such toleration or en in his head, Henry asked himself what he would have done
couragement is out of favor in many religious and secular with the handbag, were he the thief. He decided that he
groupings, I need hardly remind you. We may well both would have taken the money and thrown the rest away.
accept it and glory in it, though our variety may perplex The next morning, he walked to the spot where the robbery
the outsider or the applicant and confuse our own mem took place, climbed over the fence into College Woods and
bership." Both within and without the Society, the testi found the handbag lying on the ground, minus the money,
monies to which this Friend was faithful all his life are now but still containing those items which are often more pre
widely accepted. The world has caught up with Henry cious than cash.
Cadbury. He was so endearing, how can we speak of him ob
In the narrower circle, those of us who thought of our jectively? It wasn't just that he was an interpreter of Quak
selves as his disciples-and all of us were-saw in him the erism in word and life, that for fifty-seven years he stood
answer to the question he posed in an article written twenty at the heart and conscience of the American Friends Ser
years ago, entitled, What Makes a Good Quaker? He de vice Committee; it wasn't just his excellence as a scholar,
fined one as a person who enjoys "a simple and genuine teacher, historian, woodsman, philatelist and-delight of
confidence in the capacity of all men to discover and re delights!-literary detective-it wasn't excellence alone
spond to the divine call within. . . . The peculiar combina that distinguished him so much as the grace he brought to
tion of inner piety and outer serviceableness . . . two uni all these endeavors and to his relations with people. We
versal languages-collective silence and deeds of love ...." who turned to him for enlightenment and verification came
He embodied this ideal. But, while he took it seriously, away with more than answers-a .g reater vision, greater
he never, at any time, took himself too seriously. Engaging openness to alternative views, a greater dedication to ac
humor leavened and seasoned his outlook. Who would curacy, in short, to Truth. We had been in touch with an
616 December 1, 1974 FRIENDS JOURNAL
almost Olympian clarity and sympathy, communicated, How long would it take," he asked.
even at four score years and ten, with boyish wit. Two years, I estimated.
Two years ago, when someone brought Henry Cadbury "I don't know," he answered. "I don't want to live to be
a little sheaf of papers that had spent centuries reposing in too old."
an attic, he saw immediately that he was holding nothing He didn't. His last conscious act-carrying his Lydia's
less than A Plea for the Poor, written in Woolman's own breakfast tray downstairs--,.was consistent with his bearing
hand. What excitement! since youth, that combination of love and "outer service
"Thee'll understand," he said, when he showed it to me. ableness."
"I couldn't sleep." DAISY NEWMAN
I had come to say that I was embarking on another
novel with a Quaker background. Would he see me
Daisy Newman, a member of Cambridge Monthly Meeting in
through this book, criticizing it as he had so generously
Massachusetts, is the author of seven books including A Procession
and carefully criticized the others? For the first time in the
of Friends in which Henry Cadbury is frequently mentioned. She
three decades that he was my beloved mentor, he hesitated. is now working on her eighth book.
Lydia and Henry Cadbury
FRIENDS JOURNAL December 1, 1974 617
Quaker Historian
HENRY CADBURY'S PASSIONATE desire to know as much as brought together fragments of Fox's writings which had
possible about everything which touched his life naturally been omitted from the usual collections because they
enough included an enormous interest in the history of the seemed to suggest that the founder of Quakerism claimed
beloved Religious Society of Friends into which he was supernatural powers which were suspect, and that he lacked
born in 1883. While his international reputation as a schol stability. In scores of articles which were sprinkled through
ar rested upon his work in biblical literature, he began to a great variety of learned journals, he exposed previously
publish articles in the field of Quaker history on both sides unknown information, exhibited his great powers of de
of the Atlantic in 1924 and 1925. He is quoted as saying tection, and contributed to our knowledge of Quaker his
that writing and teaching about the New Testament was tory.
his vocation, and that Quaker history was an avocation, He concentrated upon collecting facts, upon digging out
but from the World War II period he published more in unknown facets of history, and never claimed more for his
the latter field than the former. information than the evidence clearly allowed. He did not
In 1947 the Friends Historical Society in London hon engage in free-flowing flights of thought on the theory of
ored Henry Cadbury by electing him president of that history, nor was he interested in the philosophy of history.
body, and from 1953 through 1955 he served as president I well remember that my major professor in graduate
of the Friends Historical Association in Philadelphia. He school dismissed Henry Cadbury as a man who merely
served as chairman of the "Historical Research Commit collected the facts of the past, and did not endeavor to in
tee" of the latter body for the last thirty years of his life, terpret them for the present. This other famous historian,
and edited two departments of the journal Quaker History who was elected president of the American Historical As
for most of that period. sociation near the close of his career, was caught up in the
His first article to appear in one of the Quaker historical new school of historical thought which dismissed scholars
journals, entitled "A Disputed Paper of George Fox," in who felt the facts spoke for themselves. Henry Cadbury
the Bulletin of the Friends Historical Association (now was sometimes called an antiquarian because he concen
called Quaker History) in 1924, set the pattern for much trated upon specific, and sometimes seemingly isolated epi
that he published in the next half century. Two Quaker sodes in history. He accepted this label and did not resent
authors of the day, Mabel R. Brailsford and Margaret E. it, for Quaker history was only his avocation, and he
Hirst, had attributed to Fox a tract entitled To the Councill already had a solid scholarly reputation in the field of bib
of Officers of the Armie ... published anonymously, and lical studies.
listing no printer, place of publication, or date. Henry One of the demands of the newer historians was for rei-·
Cadbury carefully traced all the known facts, engaged in evance. History should be relevant to the present. While
certain educated guesses, and ended up concluding that Henry Cadbury never attempted to draw great sweeping
Fox had indeed written the pamphlet, likely with some as strokes upon the canvas of history to indicate its relevance
sistance. In the following year he published an article in to the present, he did create some 275 miniatures in his
the Friends Quarterly Examiner on the Norwegian migra delightful "Letters from the Past" many of which were
tion to America, entitled "The Quaker Sloopers of 1825," published in 1972 under the title Friendly Heritage. Some
thus bringing a little known episode in the history of of these brief items had importance, and all of them were
Friends to the attention of his readers. This interest in the of interest to his readers. He loved to indicate parallels in
obscure, the previously unknown, was also a mark of his different periods of history, to give examples of how his
Quaker scholarship. tory repeats itself, or to illuminate some forgotten episode
Henry Cadbury was a master detective who loved to fit in history in a vignette.
what appeared to be disparate pieces together to form a If his "Letters from the Past" do not carry much weight
coherent and useful picture. His first major work in Quaker in Quaker historiography, the same cannot be said of such
history was that type of project, the book which appeared valuable works as John Woolman in England, or his per
in 1939 under the title, Annual catalogue of George Fox's ceptive essay in the Journal of Negro History, "Negro
papers. Geoffrey Nuttall wrote of this study, "Only a re Membership in the Society of Friends," reprinted by Pendle
markable mind would have thought of attempting the de Hill. These two essays, and many like them, were the re
tective work necessary to produce it, would have thought sult of hundreds of hours of careful reading and note
this possible, even, or worth doing." Edward Milligan taking, often on both sides of the Atlantic, followed by
called it " ... a symbol of Henry Cadbury's passion for de thoughtful and creative efforts to weave together all of this
tail, his detective instincts, his sleuth-like zeal in discover material into clear, concise, objective recitals of the facts.
ing what others said could not be discovered, his lucidity in He did not draw back from revealing the failures of Friends
presentation." along with their successes. Scholars for many years to
Nearly a decade later he followed this with a volume come will thank Henry Cadbury for his books, his cat
called George Fox's Book of Miracles. In this book he alogues, his articles, his "Notes and Documents."
618 December 1, 1974 FRIENDS JOURNAL